To what extent globalization has influenced the core of cultural diversity in India? Explain.

Question

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Globalisation has influenced the core of India's cultural diversity only partially, transforming food, dress and entertainment while straining language and family. Faith, kinship and festivals have adapted and spread, as glocalised brands like McDonald's India, which serves no beef, and the global International Day of Yoga show.

**Introduction**

Arjun Appadurai describes globalisation as flows of media, people, money and ideas that each society absorbs in its own way. In India these flows have reshaped the surface of culture far more than its core, so their influence on the core is partial.

**Where Globalisation Has Reached the Core**

SKETCH: iceberg | Culture Under Globalisation
visible: Food, Dress, Entertainment, Language use
hidden: Family values, Faith, Kinship, Festivals

1. **Language shift**: English has become the language of aspiration, and UNESCO's 2009 Atlas listed 197 Indian languages as endangered.
2. **Family and individualism**: Corporate work and migration have spread nuclear households and individual choice in marriage, often splitting the self between office and home.
3. **Homogenised consumption**: Ritzer's McDonaldisation fits the spread of malls, fast food and global brands across Indian cities.

**Where the Core Has Held or Grown**

1. **Glocalisation**: McDonald's India serves no beef and sells the McAloo Tikki, adapting to Indian faith and taste.
2. **Two-way flow**: The International Day of Yoga (2015), UNESCO's listing of the Kumbh Mela (2017) and the Oscar for "Naatu Naatu" (2023) carried Indian culture outward.
3. **Tradition modernises itself**: Yogendra Singh shows Indian institutions absorbing change while keeping their structure, so caste endogamy now runs through matrimonial websites.
4. **Assertion of the local**: The Jallikattu protests of 2017 in Tamil Nadu show communities defending core practices when animal-rights norms, pressed by bodies such as PETA, reach into tradition.

**Conclusion**

Globalisation has influenced the core of India's cultural diversity only partially, transforming its surface and straining language and family while faith, kinship and festivals adapt. India's composite culture thrives by indigenising global influences.

To what extent globalization has influenced the core of cultural diversity in India? Explain.

Model answer

Practise this question

Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India23 questions

Ghissu